Exiles
by Marilyn Hacker
Her brown falcon perches above the sink
as steaming water forks over my hands.
Below the wrists they shrivel and turn pink.
I am in exile in my own land.
Her half-grown cats scuffle across the floor
trailing a slime of blood from where they fed.
I lock the door. They claw under the door.
I am an exile in my own bed.
Her spotted mongrel, bristling with red mange,
sleeps on the threshold of the Third Street bar
where I drink brandy as the couples change.
I am in exile where my neighbors are.
On the pavement, cans of ashes burn.
Her green lizard scuttles from the light
around torn cardboard charred to glowing fern.
I am in exile in my own sight.
Her blond child sits on the stoop when I come
back at night. Cold hands, blue lids; we both
need sleep. She tells me she is going to die.
I am in exile in my own youth.
Lady of distances, this fire, this water,
this earth makes sanctuary where I stand.
Call of your animals and your blond daughter,
I am in exile in my own hands.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Sweet Stay-at-Home by William Henry Davies
- My Sad Self poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Robert Burns: Whistle O’er The Lave O’t:
- Владимир Орлов – Как Таппи научился лаять
- Not out of the running by Margaret Marie Hubbard
- The Burning Crusade by Memphis Knight
- Say, Lad, Have You Things to Do? poem – A. E. Housman
- Medallion by Sylvia Plath
- Наум Коржавин – Поэзия не страсть, а власть
- Ольга Берггольц – Память (Всей земною горечью и болью)
- Михаил Кузмин – Вы молчаливо-нежное дитя
- Last Battle Cid
- Ольга Берггольц – Слепой
- Grandmother’s Teaching poem – Alfred Austin
- My Paramour Was Loneliness
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
